Russian Imam Calls for Boycott of Elton John Concerts

The controversy surrounding Elton John's upcoming concerts in Russia continues. This time from a Russian Islamic leader who has called on his followers to boycott the multi Grammy Award-winner's concerts in Moscow and Kazan, the Moscow Times reports.

Calling the British pop singer "the devil's work in the shape of a pederast," conservative imam Seidzhagfar Lutfullin, from Russia's largely Muslim Tartarstan region, warned his followers of Sodom and Gommorah, saying that John's promotion of same-sex relations could have similar consequences.

"We are seeing how our healthy and moral society is being attacked by nonconformists and perverts." Lutfullin said, further stating "I think that we must prevent this with the help of the media, by sermons and discussions about the nature of humanity and the prolongation of the human race, about the schemings of the Devil, in the form of a sodomite - Elton John."

Lutfullin is the latest Russian religious conservative to call on a ban of John's concerts. According to Pink News, Yuri Ageshchev, the leader of religious fundamentalist group the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods, told Novy Region news agency: "The statement by this gay guy - Elton John - about his support for gays and other perverts during the upcoming concert in Moscow is an insult to all Russian citizens [...] It also makes a mockery of our recently enacted law against the public propaganda of gay ideas."

John came under harsh criticism last month from the global LGBT community for his decision to play Russia in light of the country's recent adoption of the "gay propaganda" law.

In an interview with The Guardian, John defended his decision to play Russia, stating "As a gay man, I can't leave those people on their own without going over there and supporting them. I don't know what's going to happen, but I've got to go,"